I believe that Jay Sifford’s interesting piece about garden design suffered because I accepted his use of the word ‘Conceptual’ in the title. Some people got little further, due to the feelings they have about Conceptual Gardens as understood in the UK. The term has come to be quite specific, as Tim Richardson discusses here. […]

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I’ve never been quite sure what a conceptual garden is. Victoria Summerley made a brave attempt at defining it, as “a garden that seeks to portray an idea, rather than provide a landscape design solution.” And very recently, on the back of Hampton Court ‘Flower’ Show the idea became controversial. Renamed strangely as a ‘statement […]

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The promised review of the Royal Horticultural Event at Wisley. Thanks to Helen Gazeley for the review, Suzanne Moss for organising the event and Charles Hawes for the photographs. And here is a recording of the entire proceedings. (warning- it’s over an hour long…) Anne Wareham, editor Helen Gazeley: Are Gardens Art? This was the […]

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There may be slightly less posting here over the next four months, as I have just signed a contract to write a book. (over 20 thousand copies sold so far..2017.) Forty thousand words before Christmas and we’ve still got coach parties and Sunday openings at the Veddw. Couldn’t resist the flattery of being asked, before […]

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A few weeks ago Matthew Appleby published a piece here about the use of celebrities in the media. It produced a great deal of comment, which you can see here, together with the original piece. In the course of all that comment it seemed to me that the topic moved on a little – or […]

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Here is a second second review of this book, in this case by Bridget Rosewell OBE. What are Gardens for? Visiting, Experiencing and Thinking about Gardens Rory Stuart, Frances Lincoln, 2012 Bridget Rosewell: Don’t expect an answer to the question of the title, because if you do you won’t enjoy this book. Instead focus on […]